Massachusetts doesn't have a governor's mansion. The state's not the big. With the exception of Jane Swift, acting governor for a couple of years, who was from western Mass, none of our governors during my lifetime have lived so far away that they couldn't easily commute into the State House in Boston.
So we don't have a fenced fortress set up for our governors and their families to live in.
What they do get is protection in the form of a detail of state troopers parked in front of their residence, protecting the occupants.
With the foiled plot to attack Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia's Ralph Northam, these are scary times. Our governor, Charlie Baker, is a Republican, so is less likely to have the right-wing militias after him, but he's a pretty liberal R - a RINO to many - and he's kept a pretty tight lid on the state during the COVID crisis, so he could well become a target of domestic terrorists. Any political figure, of any prominence, is at risk.
Anyway, before he became one of America's Most Popular Governors, Charlie was a successful businessman. And he lives in a lovely, successful businessman house in the lovely, successful businessman North Shore suburb of Swampscott.
An parked in front of his lovely, successful businessman house is a SUV with a couple of Staties in it.
Our State Police force is nothing to write home about. Instead, it's something to write exposé articles about, as this charming organization seems to be perpetually scandal-plagued: overtime scams, procurements scams, scam scams.
But you'd think they could manage to keep an eye on the governor's home.
Not so.
While a couple of these guys were sitting there protecting and defending, some lunatic with a violent criminal past managed to walk in through the unlocked kitchen door and leave a pile of papers for Charlie. While Charlie's wife and daughter were in there.
Now, it's a large house and all, but you'd think these dudes would have noticed a strange ve-HICK-el (that's cop speak for vehicle, yes?) pull into the driveway. And a strange perp (ditto) step out and head for the house.
But no.
Probably too busy sitting there looking at their phones. Or listening to Rush Limbaugh. Or calling into sports radio. Or counting the minutes until their next run to Dunks.
I would guess that protecting the governor is a pretty plum assignment. Sure, there are plenty of evil doers or just plain nuts who might want to take a swipe at him, but this isn't gunville. It's not RWNJ (right wing nut job, to you) territory. And the governor of Massachusetts isn't the president of the United States. I'm sure there are occasional threats, but I would guess that guarding Charlie Baker's house isn't all that dangerous a job.
Plus Charlie seems like an affable enough guy. I'm sure he's demanding - he didn't get to be a successful businessman or the governor by being a totally chill slacker - but I'm pretty sure he's not an irrational tyrant, a Captain Queeg. And protecting The Guv, one would think, would be a more interesting assignment than parking on the median strip on the Mass Pike with a speed gun.
Anyway, they caught the guy who broke into Baker's house, and no one was harmed. But while Baker has said little about the incident, you have to believe that - especially given that his family was there - he's mightily pissed. And that mightily pissing off the governmor may well have translated into a couple of reassignments, a couple of downgrades, to the feckless Staties that let this happen on their watch.
Maybe they're out in Lee, patrolling the state forests. Or in Belchertown. Nah. How could they be trusted to guard the Quabbin Reservoir?
It'll be interesting the hear what the excuse is on this one. Folks can get arrested for texting while driving. Wonder if these jamokes were texting while supposedly guarding the governor's house?
All I can say is, bad career move
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